Monthly Archives: February 2015

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The pictures below show London’s diversity, in vehicles. My bike is in both picture and shows size of each vehicle, click on either picture to see a larger version.

Here are some notes on each picture.

Taken close to where Gabriella and I live.

It’s also near a cozy pub called the Crown & Sceptre, where wrote most of the blog post.

The advertising on the outside is the Italian flag, which shows this little vehicle is probably used to sell coffee.

Taken as I moved some things to our storage room, using my trusty bike trailer.

The advertising on the outside is for Car Giant, which is ironic. I might consider buying a car from them, as long as the car, maintenance, and parking was less than $1,500. That’s the cost of my bike, trailer, and maintenance for 5 years. (A fitness plan is included.) I suspect Car Giant wouldn’t take the deal.

Stories quickly come up with cycling. The picture of me, my trusty trailer, and the bus was taken by a friendly father. I saw the bus, him, and his daughter as I cycled by. I told him that I had a cycling blog and would like a picture of me and my trusty trailer, by the bus. When I asked, I hadn’t seen the Car Giant ad, but that’s one of life’s ironies that makes things more interesting.

Anyway, the father was happy to help. He told his, slightly shy, daughter to tell the bus driver not to drive off, while he took the picture. I gave the father my phone to take the picture. He took a nice shot, and a moment later, the bus drove off, without them. I felt very bad. He asked his daughter if she told the driver to wait. She responded with a shy shrug. I felt bad again. I apologized a few times and cycled off. In retrospect, I should have given the daughter something for the delay I caused her.

I suspect her dad got a kick out of my bike and trailer. I suspect she wondered why they’d have to wait another 30, or 60, minutes for a bus. I could have easily given her a fiver or a tener (£5 or £10 which is $8 or $15) from my wallet to compensate for the trouble I caused. I didn’t think fast enough, but I’ll try to remember this little lesson next time.

I’ve describe the bus quite a bit, but the little vehicle with the Italian flag also deserves some thought. I like small vehicles, but when they get as small as the one with the Italian flag, I have to wonder why the driver doesn’t use a bike. The business advantages are clear. Gas/petrol in the UK is about $10/gallon, so that expense would be gone on a bicycle-based, mobile, coffee business. The maintenance costs of a bike coffee business would also be tiny in comparison to a gas/petrol mobile coffee business. If this seems too good or unusual to be true, check out the picture below.

Of course, selling coffee off a bike-based business would require some exercise and a higher tolerance for uncomfortable weather, but Minnesotans have shown how this is quite possible. Minnesota was just nominated as the second most bike-friendly city in the US, despite its challenging winters. Sure, the high temperature in Minneapolis is below freezing for a few months a year, but obviously, that doesn’t stop folks with a bit of determination. Who knows, someday, there might be someone who cycles 1,100 miles on a folding bike, with camping gear

Well, I’ve meandered quite enough. It all started with London’s diversity. Maybe that shows how diversity really can lead to some unique ideas.